level 20 Paladin/Hexblade advice, 12/8 or 11/9?

[Adianu]

Hi guys, a friend of mine is going to be running a level 20 one-shot adventure and i'm gonna be playing a vengeance paladin/hexblade Aasimar. I'm pretty set on that I want at least 11 in paladin for improved divine smite, but where I'm having conflict is if I want to go 12 in paladin as well for that ASI, or go to 9 in warlock for the 5th level slots on a short rest instead of 4th. The warlock is a bit flexible as long as I've got 3 in there so if you have another multiclass suggestion I wouldn't be immediately opposed to it. thanks for input!

[GreyBlack]

Hi guys, a friend of mine is going to be running a level 20 one-shot adventure and i'm gonna be playing a vengeance paladin/hexblade Aasimar. I'm pretty set on that I want at least 11 in paladin for improved divine smite, but where I'm having conflict is if I want to go 12 in paladin as well for that ASI, or go to 9 in warlock for the 5th level slots on a short rest instead of 4th. The warlock is a bit flexible as long as I've got 3 in there so if you have another multiclass suggestion I wouldn't be immediately opposed to it. thanks for input!

I guess my big question is how much is the ASI worth? What would you be getting out of it? Would you be taking a feat? Or will it be to max out a stat? Or is it just a nice capstone?

[CTurbo]

I'd think in most cases the 9th level of Warlock would be superior to 1 extra ASI unless there is a very specific feat that you must have to accomplish a thing.

Of course I also think that Paladin 20 would be superior to either option hehe

[Corran]

IMO, and from a character optimization viewpoint, I think your best choices are the following (order is random):
Paladin 20, Paladin 18/ hexblade 2 and Heblade 20.
Now, if you really want to multiclass for several levels in each class, then imo the big levels are:
hexblade 9 (synaptic static) 10 (armor of hexes), 11 (3rd slot), 13 (forcecage), paladin 6 (aura), 7 (for some oaths, mainly devotion and conquest), 9 (aura of vitality and revivify) and perhaps 10 (for conquest and assuming a DM ruling in our favor). Edit: And perhaps paladin 13 (find greater steed; always forget those, cause I don't use them :0).
Keep in mind that warlocks have a 12th level invocation (lifedrinker) that is pretty much the same thing as the paladin's IDS, so if you feel like having better spells at the higher levels, you can still bump damage even without going all the way up to paladin 11.

Edit: Between 11/9 or 12/8, I'd go with 11/9. Spell levels (especially when a warlock's pact slots are concerned) are more important than an ASI, when we are talking abou ASI's at that point in a character's career (because you will have grabbed the more truly important ones by then; if your build is quite feat intensive, go with vhuman)

[paladinn]

Since you are open to other MC options, you could consider throwing in sorceror as well. Once you get past 6 levels of paladin (7 if you go Ancients) and 2-3 levels of hexblade, there's not a lot to gain really. I'd pour the rest of your levels into sorcerer (maybe divine soul) for better spells and Lots more smite-fuel.

The conventional wisdom is to go straight paladin or hexblade at first, but you may want to mix it up. One level of paladin gets you armor, shields, weapons, etc. The first level of HB makes you mostly CHA-based, so you don't need to max STR. A 2nd level gets you the best range damage cantrip in the game. After that, finish your paladin levels and then go sorcerer. Sorlocadin is one cool way to get some serious cheese:)

[darknite]

I'm just doing 19 Paladin / 1 Hexblade, mainly because I want the bigger Aura and the last ASI. Part of me wants to do 17 Paladin / 3 Hexblade to get Greater Pact of the Blade so he can use Hex Warrior with a two-handed weapon.

[DissidentWizard]

I think I'd prefer 12 pally, 8 warlock. Warlock 9 gets you 5th level spells which is no different than 4th for smites, and hold monster is the only spell at 5 for warlocks that really makes much difference, unless you're desperate for banishing smite/cone of cold. Personally I'd suggest 8 pally, 12 warlock. Then you get 3 5th level spells per short rest (which is much better for paralyzing an enemy and smiting them twice with big spell slots) and you get the life drinker invocation, which increases your DPS on average as much as improved divine smite, unless you're concerned about necro resist

[Aimeryan]

The breakpoints on the Warlock addition to Paladin for me are:
1 - Hex Warrior and EB as a decent ranged option
2 - AB for a good ranged option
3 - Pact for 2H (GWM usage)
4 - ASI
5 - Eldritch Smite

After that the additional Warlock levels don't add much, but then neither do additional Paladin levels after 12. You could look at Pal 12, Warlock 5, Sorc 3, but I don't think Metamagic is that useful with only a few Sorcery Points to play with.

If not going 2H I really don't think more than one level is worth it - you have ways to be effective when others would need a ranged attack, so the ranged attack isn't that useful. Even then, one level in Warlock is not worth it if your DM is happy to throw some Gauntlets of Giant Strength at you (only Uncommon for the weakest variant).

The real benefit to going Warlock at all as a Paladin as I see it is if you either are not confident in getting some Gauntlets or if you want to go super nova with Eldritch Smite added on top of Divine Smite.

Maybe the last levels could go into Fighter for Action Surge and Samurai (crits)/Battlemaster (precision for GWM) - Paladin 11, Warlock 5, Fighter 4.